Look at Radiohead, for example. Mature group that makes music for themselves and their fans. They're smart enough to realize that they won't ever be as popular as they were 15+ years ago and don't even bother themselves with the charts anymore.

And despite this, at Key Arena the other night they were basically pulled back onstage by the crowd for an unplanned 3rd encore where they played Fake Plastic Trees. It was unreal.

Sounds like an incredible experience. You were there, right? I think you mentioned going to see them in another thread.

Good thread. I agree with Exile and his supporters. It is time for dignity. Whether or not this rapper collaborations churns out a good song or not, there is a lot of damage to be repaired. More Troubles and SLABT - the band still has it but is focused on relevance and commercial success which is undignified at this point in my opinion.

Look at Radiohead, for example. Mature group that makes music for themselves and their fans. They're smart enough to realize that they won't ever be as popular as they were 15+ years ago and don't even bother themselves with the charts anymore.

And despite this, at Key Arena the other night they were basically pulled back onstage by the crowd for an unplanned 3rd encore where they played Fake Plastic Trees. It was unreal.

Sounds like an incredible experience. You were there, right? I think you mentioned going to see them in another thread.

Adam posted very positive words on fb from Radiohead's gig last year. Surely he too must have been thinking 'this is what we should be doing'. Fake plastic trees, sounds amazimg.

I agree that U2 have been trying too hard to remain a mainstream act but given their immense popularity I think they’d sustain their commercial success if they were to try and create more artistically authentic records. Even in the USA I think that’d be the case – I don’t think they’d have another Popmart experience there. They have such a legacy now that they will draw sell-out shows all over the world for the rest of their careers.

I have been very impressed with recent records by the artists mentioned here – the last Radiohead album was spectacular. The irony is that U2 didn’t start out trying to make records that appealed to a perceived mainstream marketplace. They made incredibly brave choices, with October and TUF in particular, trusting that they’d be able to take their fans with them. With Radiohead it is the other way round – they made compromises to become big, e.g. promoting Creep repeatedly to break into the mainstream. Radiohead have done something good with their success, whilst at the same time U2 seem to have become frightened of taking risks. But perhaps their artistic wells have just dried up? Bono had to go back to his adolescence to find inspiration for the past record, and musically nothing on it was truly original.

I don’t think the success of ATYCLB is to blame for this. I mean, the records that came after it didn’t exactly set the world on fire, so they’ve had plenty of warnings that everything is not right about their approach. I do think they’ve been trying to emulate the success of singles such a Beautiful Day and Vertigo, however, which is disappointing. Perhaps they see these songs as models of what a middle-aged group can achieve; they probably don’t think they are relevant, young and hungry enough to create another With or Without You or Mofo.

But instead of complaining we should be grateful we got 2 great decades of creative music from U2 - how many other artists have produced so consistently for as long? - and hope they may come up with more. They are still a spectacular live act as well, and I remain hopeful for future recordings.

I should also say I don’t agree that Joe Public will necessarily want dumbed down MOR music. I think there’s been plenty of great records that the public have taken to.

I'd say that u2 are probably caught in between their natural alternative leaning and their desire to remain big in the mainstream and what results from that is an uncertainty/a compromised sound.....NLOTH is probably the best example of that - on one hand you have the likes of Cedars of Lebanon and on the other Crazy Tonight.......polar opposites in just about every way and very much perfect polaroids of the band u2 in my view probably think they could be and the band they sadly think they should be...

Look at Radiohead, for example. Mature group that makes music for themselves and their fans. They're smart enough to realize that they won't ever be as popular as they were 15+ years ago and don't even bother themselves with the charts anymore.

And despite this, at Key Arena the other night they were basically pulled back onstage by the crowd for an unplanned 3rd encore where they played Fake Plastic Trees. It was unreal.

Sounds like an incredible experience. You were there, right? I think you mentioned going to see them in another thread.

Yeah, it was like 5 years to the day since the last time they played Seattle. Both shows were mindblowing.

... it sounds like Exile is elitist enough for the band and most of their fans too. I completely get that being a lifelong hardcore fan of U2 is a precious thing but it doesn't do anyone any good to be so possessive about it.

Let's not devolve into personal insults.

But yeah, I am an elitist of sorts. I think U2 is better than Coldplay, better than Katy Perry, and better than Fetty Wap. I think they are tarnishing their legacy by desperately pining to be popular. It's like they have PLEASE LIKE US painted across their chests, and it's kinda unseemly.

Like many of us, I have invested the majority of my life (not to mention plenty of money) into my U2 fandom. While I wouldn't say they owe me anything, I can still mourn when I see them collaborate with Wyclef Jean or Missy Elliot.

To anyone outside this forum I am a fierce U2 defender. But this should be a safe place to rant every now and then.

Fair enough. To each his own. I long ago stopped trying to defend U2 to people who don't like them. If I thought Bono was going to be dabbing onstage with Pitbull I would have preemptively felt the same way, but collaborating with Kendrick, like Jules says, ain't no f****** ballpark.

That's a great post, Exile and I think we can all relate to that post and share somewhat of a similar thought.

I think at this stage in U2's career, we all believe that they are still trying to be relevant and write the music that they hope will sell and appeal to the masses.... in doing this they will probably moving forward not write the music that they or us truly believe in.

When I think of this relevancy type topic for U2, I always think of All That You Can't Leave Behind. Right after their experimental phase they returned with probably the most pure collection of songs I can think of on one U2 album, songs like Walk on, Kite, Stuck In A Moment. They are all simple straightforward rock songs that always speak of an honest sincere place.

I believe they wrote that album with not a care in the world about what the outcome would be. That's why it's a bit disappointing to see Bono dabbling with rap artists etc.

SOE will really tell us a lot, I hope it will sound honest and feel like a band writing the music that they truly believe in, not to fill a purpose or to sell x amount.